International Bluegrass Music Association award winner Michael Prewitt was born and raised in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains in rural Whitley County, Kentucky, outside of the town of Williamsburg. It was there he learned to play bluegrass music, first on the fiddle and then on what would quickly become his life’s musical love, the mandolin. Throughout middle school and high school he played in his school district’s after-school bluegrass band, Colonel Strings, and after graduating he played with the Eastern Kentucky bluegrass band Mountain Drive. Michael then took a hiatus from playing music to attend college at the University of the Cumberlands. He moved to North Dakota after graduating to begin graduate school in English literature, and while there began playing mandolin and banjo with the North Dakota-based Flatt Mountain Bluegrass Boys. After a few years of teaching English at the University of North Dakota, he decided to focus his attention on his musical career by relocating to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he co-founded the neo-traditional bluegrass band Back Up & Push. The band released a regionally well-received album with Michael playing guitar, singing lead vocals and contributing multiple original compositions. In 2021 he joined the Grammy-nominated bluegrass band Special Consensus, where he currently plays the mandolin and sings lead and harmony vocals. He released his first solo album, The Peerless Mountain Sessions, in 2024.
